One of the limitations up to this point in industry is that many thermoplastic parts are currently fabricated in an autoclave. There are many problems with the autoclave. The largest commercial autoclave is about 90 feet long and very expensive. The size of the part would have to be smaller than 90 feet. In addition, the autoclave takes up a lot of production floor space in a commercial production plant.
Currently industry is using a nitrogen gas torch to process thermoplastic material such as thermoplastic tape. The response time of the torch is too slow to be used to control the temperature on the surface of the thermoplastic tape. It takes several seconds to change the gas temperature in the torch. Present technology controls output of the hot gas torch by adjusting mass flow of a gas and/or its temperature. Flow controllers have very slow rates of change, and due to the high thermal mass of the torch, the temperature response time is even longer. Since it takes several seconds by changing the gas temperature in a torch, a new method and device were needed to have rapid temperature changes that could be realized by moving the torch nozzle relative to the part or the tool surface.